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Prior research has proven the benefits of infant’s DHA intake on their cognitive and intellectual development … but DHA is accumulated most rapidly in the growing brain during pregnancy.

As KU’s Dr. Colombo said, “That’s why we are so interested in the effects of DHA taken prenatally, because we will really be able to see how this nutrient affects development over the long term.”

During the study, 350 women took placebo or DHA capsules, starting from before 20 weeks of gestation through birth.

The average omega-3 DHA intake for the mothers in the omega-3 group was 469 mg per day … which raised their own DHA blood levels and the DHA levels in their umbilical cord blood.

On average, the babies born to mothers taking omega-3 DHA showed six advantages:

Heavier by six ounces.

Longer by 0.7 centimeters.

Gestated for three additional days.

Larger heads, by 0.5 centimeters of circumference

Less likely to be born sooner than 34 weeks of gestation.

If born preterm, they had shorter hospital stays than preterm babies in the placebo group.

As the authors wrote, “A reduction in early preterm and very-low birth weight could be important clinical and public health outcomes of DHA supplementation.” (Carlson SE et al. 2013)

The Kansas team will follow the infants for another five years, to see whether prenatal DHA supplements can benefit children’s intelligence scores and school readiness.

“A reduction in early preterm and very low birth weight delivery could have clear clinical and public health significance,” said Susan Carlson, Ph.D., of KU’s Department of Dietetics and Nutrition. She co-directed the study with John Colombo, Ph.D., of KU’s Life Span Institute.

“We believe that supplementing U.S. women with [omega-3] DHA could safely increase mean [average] birth weight and gestational age to numbers that are closer to other developed countries such as Norway and Australia,” said Carlson.

During the first five years of the study, children of women enrolled in the study received multiple developmental assessments at regular intervals throughout infancy and at 18 months of age.

The children will receive twice-yearly assessments until they are six years old, to measure developmental milestones linked to lifelong health outcomes.

The study is funded by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.

Mothers’ high omega-6 levels linked to kids' excess weight at age six

Coincidentally, in January of 2013, British researchers reported that expectant mothers’ intake of omega-3 and omega-6 fats affects their children’s weight at age six.

“Obesity is a rising problem in this country and there have been very few studies of mothers’ fatty acid levels during pregnancy and offspring fat mass,” said Harvey.

First, the UK team measured the fat and muscle mass of the boys and girls at four and six years.

Then, they compared those measurements to the levels of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids in blood collected from the mothers during pregnancy.

The comparison showed that, on average, children’s weight at age six was affected by their mothers’ intake of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids:

Children born to women who had higher-than-average blood levels of omega-3s during pregnancy had less body fat and more muscle and bone.

Children born to women who had higher-than-average blood levels of omega-6s during pregnancy had more body fat and less muscle and bone.

“This work should help us to design interventions aimed at optimizing body composition in childhood and later adulthood and thus improve the health of future generations,” added Professor Cyrus Cooper, also of University of Southampton (UOS 2013).

“These results suggest that alterations to maternal diet during pregnancy to reduce omega-6 intake might have a beneficial effect on the body composition of the developing child.”

Limiting the intake of omega-6 fats – plus boosting the intake of omega-3s – during pregnancy could lead to healthier babies with less fat and more muscle, say the UK team.

Study co-author Rebecca Moon, M.D., made this key comment:

“Omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids seem to act in opposite directions on fat mass; previous trials have attempted to use omega-3 supplementation to reduce fat mass, but our results suggest that such an approach might work best when combined with a reduction in dietary omega-6 intake.” (UOS 2013)

“This work should help us to design interventions aimed at optimizing body composition in childhood and later adulthood and thus improve the health of future generations,” added co-author Cyrus Cooper (UOS 2013).